The Cloverdale Rodeo Youth Initiative Foundation is hoping it can continue help local charities and organizations support youth this year.

“We really believe in empowering and investing in youth,” foundation chair Nicole Reader said. “We want to make sure we can build charities or foundations or programs … it’s important to help grow that.”

The Cloverdale Rodeo Youth Initiative Foundation started in 2014 as a way for the Cloverdale Rodeo to give back to local kids. Starting with $500 scholarships for teens, the foundation has now expanded to give grants and bursaries to youth-related programs, as well as bigger scholarships for teens.

This round of grant applications is focused on organizations, charities or programs that focus on youth needs.

Unlike some grants, which focus on financial contributions only, the Cloverdale Rodeo foundation also wants to allow organizations to ask for space inside the Cloverdale fairgrounds or willing volunteers.

“Sometimes people need space. Sometimes in order to raise money for a program, they need actual space to be able to ost their function. At times those are the things that we do,” Read said.

“And sometimes they actually need manpower. They have a lot of financial backing, they have a lot of space, they’ve got a lot of in-kind donations, but what they don’t have is … the volunteers.”

The Cloverdale Rodeo foundation’s youth ambassador program helps support those organizations that need more volunteers, by partnering them with rodeo volunteers.

Past grant recipients have included Ronald McDonald House, which applied for funding to help get its pantry program off the ground at Surrey Memorial Hospital, and the Centre for Child Development, which applied for help with Sophie’s Place Child and Youth Advocacy Centre and the centre’s golf tournament.

Although the foundation focuses on organizations in the Surrey and Langley areas, it will also accept applications from other areas around the Lower Mainland.

There’s no restrictions on the type of program or organization that can apply for support, although it does need to have a focus on youth.

“We’re open to all types of applications,” Read said. “We’re willing to see all size of projects — anything from $200 and up.”